Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Saturday alleged that the AIADMK walked out of the Assembly citing a “lame” and untrue reason as it did not want to antagonise the BJP by supporting the government’s resolution to readopt the Bills for which Governor R.N. Ravi had withheld assent.
Addressing media after the special session of the Assembly, he said that the reason cited by the Leader of the Opposition for the walkout was false. He said the government was not revoking the previous AIADMK government’s decision to rename Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (TNFU) after late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
He said the amendment Bill brought in by the AIADMK government in 2020 to change the university’s name after the late CM was pending with the Governor for long. It was among the Bills for which the Governor had recently communicated his decision to withhold assent.
Mr. Thennarasu said the Bill was among those taken up for readoption by the Assembly on Saturday for sending back to the Governor for his assent. He said the AIADMK should have ideally supported the DMK and condemned Mr. Ravi for not granting assent for the Bill for so long.
He alleged that AIADMK breaking up its alliance with the BJP was a pretence and the two parties still shared an understanding. Earlier, after the AIADMK walked out, Leader of the House Duraimurugan made similar allegations, stating that the AIADMK did not want want to oppose the Governor since it was tantamount to opposing the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The walkout had exposed the relation between the AIADMK and the BJP. “The cat is out of the bag,” he quipped.
Minister for Fisheries Anitha R. Radhakrishnan also clarified in the Assembly that the government was not planning to remove Jayalalithaa’s name from TNFU and requested the Speaker to expunge the factually incorrect remarks made by Mr. Palaniswami. The Speaker expunged those remarks.
OPS criticises AIADMK members
The AIADMK’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, criticised members of the AIADMK for staging a walkout “without even knowing” that the Bill regarding the fisheries university had, in its text, the name of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Asked about the attitude of Governor R.N. Ravi towards the State government, Mr. Panneerselvam replied that it would be in the interests of the people of the State that there should be a cordial relationship between the Governor and the government.
